The oncology therapy developer has filed for an IPO just two years after emerging from stealth to advance Harvard and Stanford research.

Century Therapeutics, a US-based cancer treatment developer exploiting research at Harvard and Stanford universities, has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. The company has not yet set any financial terms and used a $100m placeholder amount. Founded in 2018 and incubated by venture capital firm Versant Ventures, Century has built an allogeneic cell therapy platform to support the development of cancer immunotherapies. Its lead drug candidate, CNTY-101, is being developed to treat lymphoma, a type of cancer that develops in the immune system. The IPO proceeds will fund an investigational new drug application for CNTY-101 and preclinical activities ahead of a planned phase 1 trial. It will also fund research and development as well as the development of manufacturing facilities. Investment firm Casdin Capital led Century’s $160m series C round in March 2021, with participation from chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer’s corporate venturing unit, Leaps by Bayer, as well as financial services and investment group Fidelity and sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority. The round also featured Versant Ventures, Avidity Partners, Federated Hermes’ Kaufmann Funds, Logos Capital, Marshall Wace, Octagon Capital, OrbiMed and RA Capital Management. Bayer invested $25m in Century through the round, according to the IPO filing. Century had emerged from stealth in mid-2019 with $250m from a round led by Leaps by Bayer, which invested alongside Versant Ventures and Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics, a biotechnology subsidiary of optics and medical engineering group Fujifilm. Versant Ventures is the largest shareholder in Century, with a 30.8% stake, followed by Bayer which holds 27.2%, Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics (15.9%) and Casdin Capital (5.6%). JP Morgan, BofA Securities, SVB Leerink, and Piper Sandler have been appointed as underwriters for the offering. – A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

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